April 10, 1862
This morning Mr E went to Hascosea preparatory for leaving the afternoon for Wilmington, but “L’homme propose.” He came back chilly & creepy & in a short time, to use his own words, his head was as hot as the Crater of Vesuvious and his back like an Iceberg in the open sea! So instead of leaving home he is at this moment quietly in bed with a scorching fever. I have been quite unwell with fever & sore throat since my return home so there is now a pair of us invalids.
The mail tonight brought news that Grant had been reinforced by Buel after the battle of Shiloh.* On Monday Buel & Grant on one side, Beauregard on the other, fought desperately for seven hours, when both parties simultaneous fell back, a drawn battle, after terrible slaughter. This, to us, untimely reinforcement deprived us of the full fruits of our victory on Sunday, the day before, as we could not bring off all the guns then captured. We however burnt their tents & camp equipage & tho we were forced to abandon large quantities for the want of transportation, we brought off large quantities of small arms, & our men generally exchanged their inferior for the enemies superior muskets & long range Rifles. Indeed had it not been for the dispersion of our men, bent on plunder & ransacking the Yankee stores, we would have given a better account of ourselves even then we did on Monday, badly as we worsted them. Even as it was, the slaughter was tremendous—more on their side than on ours–& yet with true Yankee effrontery they have thanked the army & ordered a national Thanksgiving for the magnificent Victory gained by them on Sunday & Monday, the 6th and 7th of April, when the truth is we beat them on Sunday & had a drawn battle on Monday! We slept in their tents on Sunday night & had not Buel come up their army would have been annihilated!
*Battle of Shiloh (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shiloh
National Park Service Entry on Battle: http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/tn003.htm
Source: Edmondston, Catherine Ann Devereux, 1823-1875, Journal of a Secesh Lady: The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston 1860-1866. Crabtree, Beth G and Patton, James W., (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1979). http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/478.html
